The World Gold Council (WGC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate on developing the Chinese gold market, including the development and marketing of gold solutions for Millennial consumers and institutional investors.
China has become the world's largest gold producer and consumer. However, in recent years, with the increasing development of online financial products and constant changes in investment and consumer groups, "China's gold industry is at a crossroad, looking towards the future", the WGC and ICBC said in a statement published on Tuesday.
Under the terms of the MoU, the two organisations will work together at a strategic level in five areas, with the first being to promote investing in gold among institutional investors.
Secondly, the parties plan to leverage online technology and the ICBC's platform advantages to design and develop new gold products and services for Millennials.
The WGC and the ICBC will also aim to enhance and promote existing gold investment products and to jointly invest in developing new gold solutions for China’s investment market; and to conduct research on cross-border gold policies and opportunities, so as to further develop the cross-border gold market, proactively participate in the global gold pricing mechanism and enhance China’s influence in the global gold market.
Lastly, the organisations will conduct investment research on the global gold market to support the development and launch of new gold solutions, as well as to educate Millennial consumers.
WGC CEO David Tait pointed out that the WGC has worked closely with the ICBC on many initiatives to help develop the Chinese gold market, from initiating a Gold Accumulation Plan, to launching a pilot project for an Internet Gold Business with Tencent and other partners aimed at meeting individual's social, investment and consumption needs.
The ICBC would continue to . . . firmly promote the upgrade of services in China’s gold market so as to provide a more open and professional market environment for Chinese gold consumers, added ICBC VP Jiong Tan.